Up until quite recently I was completely confused as to what exactly the difference was between making a choice and making a decision. I’ve been doing a course on making decisions and the clarity that came from it was so profound to me, that I couldn’t NOT write a blog post about it. I’m guessing I’m not alone in feeling this way. Maybe you’ve been a bit confused about this too.
Because in life, there is only one thing that will propel you towards the life of your dreams – and that is making decisions.
So let’s start with distinguishing the differences. Firstly, a decision is defined as being a conclusion or resolution reached following consideration, an action or process, an ability or tendency. So I guess the word to really be focussing on here is action. A decision is primarily about focussing our attention on making a decision to bring about an action. And we do this every minute of every day. Sometimes on autopilot and sometimes not. When we are conscious and deliberate and on purpose about the decisions that we make, that is when we therefore start living our lives in the same way and the results reflect those decisions. If we make a bold and reckless decision, the results will be consequential to that decision. Likewise a carefully considered and deliberately intended decision will have consequences – perhaps not so negative as in a reckless one.
Now onto what a choice is.
A choice involves making a decision, however it is less action based. We can always be presented with many choices again in every moment of every day. There is always myriads of options available to us in every minute of the day. Do I or don’t I cross the road here, which friend will I go out to lunch with next week, which route will I take to get to my appointment and so forth. As with decisions, choices are many and varied. But there will always be way more choices available to us than decisions. Typically you can only really make one decision at a time – you obviously can’t decide to cross the street here and there at the same time but you can have the choice to decide which way.
Choices always involve options – decisions involve a single action.
When it comes to creating the life we really want, it’s important to recognize that we always have many choices available to us in every moment of our lives. It’s sometimes difficult to see this when we are in a time of challenge or misfortune. If we are not making the money that we like, we always have the option to upskill into another career. If we have no money, there are always options to earn more either by starting a business on the side, taking a second job, borrowing money, selling something. You simply need to be willing to see that choices surround us constantly. But it’s the decisions that we make that take us either closer to the life we really want or away. Ultimately, it’s up to you.